Lost father at 10, vision during job, but beat all odds to become IAS officer - Meet Jayant Mankale

If your willpower is strong, nothing can stop you from achieving your dreams. Jayant Mankale proved this thought when he secured an All India ranking 143 in the civil service examinations despite being visually impaired.

Now an IAS officer, Jayant lost around 75 percent of his vision due to retinitis pigmentosa which is a type of rare genetic disorder in which there is a breakdown and loss of retinal cells.

Despite losing most of his vision, he continued to work hard. His family situation was also very grim. Jayant lost his father who was a water pump operating at the very young age of 10 years.

Although his mother received a pension as his father was a government employee, it was not enough to fulfill the needs of a family which included his mother, and two elderly sisters apart from Jayant.

To cover the expenses his mother started making pickles and sold them so that she could pay for the education of her son. This 28-year-old resident from Beed in Maharashtra graduated in mechanical engineering from Amrutvahini College of Engineering in Sangamner.

After graduating as an engineer, Jayant joined a private firm as a maintenance engineer. But during his job, Jayant lost 75% of his vision. That is when he started preparing for the UPSC exams.

He prepared for the UPSC exams in his mother tongue Marathi. Since his financial condition was not good, Jayant could not afford a screen reader and audiobook which are a great help to people with vision loss.

Congratulations to Jayant Mankale, a visually impaired son of a water pump operator who cleared the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination securing an all India Rank of 923. This goes to show that no weakness or obstacle can stand in your way once you are determined. pic.twitter.com/HjJ3ctaewx

— With Robert Vadra (@WithRV) May 1, 2018

Instead, Jayant listened to the lectures and news on All India Radio and the debates in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on television earnestly. He also listened to the speeches of famous Marathi orators and writers on YouTube which greatly helped him in his journey of becoming an IAS officer.

Jayant is reportedly the second visually-impaired candidate to have cleared the UPSC exams in Maharashtra after Pranjal Patil who is the first visually-impaired candidate from India to crack the civil services examination.